Played until 9/20/04 Posted 10/13/04 THE COMING OF THE ZIOTH TURN SIXTY-ONE Kay saw that Bork had seen her, and probably Kreemon also. She did not know what to make of the tableau she had witnessed, so she hastily, but still as quietly as possible, retreated back to where Ardith waited. She reported to her friend in hasty whispers. "It's Kreemon. He has some person at knife point and is demanding to know when the Baron will return. There's a room full of people in there, and it seems they don't want to attack Kreemon while he has this person under his control, so maybe he's a minister or advisor or something. Ardith, this is not good. What are we to do?" "Nothing, for now," the Priestess replied. Then she got a look in her eyes. "Wait, think a moment. That soldier, the one that went into the secret passage. I'll bet he went to a secret place behind Kreemon. Let's follow. Quickly, we are minutes behind him!" She handed Kay her bow, hurried back to the suit of armor, engaged the mechanism and ducked into the dark passage. "Go see who that was!" they heard the knight calling. A rapid jog followed. Kay, trembling in fright, crawled in behind Ardith. In a moment, a strange light illuminated their way. Ardith's hands appeared to be on fire as she hurried down the passage. The soldier jogged past the secret entrance, never noticing the section of wall which was swinging gently back and forth. The knight and a few of the soldiers followed Kreemon's glance, and saw Kay's back as she ran quietly away. "Go see who that was!" the knight called, and two of the soldiers hurried out of the room. "How much longer before the Baron gets here?" Kreemon asked. "It shouldn't be long now," the knight answered. Kreemon kept the knife's point on the clerk's neck and looked at the papers he had sent flying about the room. Of the few he could see, many looked like dispatch orders for various parts of the city guard. Others could have been renewals of annual arrangements with various businesses, summaries of castle activities (expense and income reports, mostly), or letters to officials. From what Kreemon could see, the papers were generally legal documents of one kind or another, along with a few that implied power greater than he'd expect in someone with the title "Second Clerk." Ardith and Kay made their way through the dusty crawlspace. At the beginning, it was an even passage made of the same sturdy stonework as the walls, but it quickly degraded into a narrow wooden scaffolding, which in places felt less sturdy than the cobwebs strung between the termite-eroded planks. The passage split numerous times, and in many places, was not a passage at all, but merely an open area where one might climb in any direction. The girls kept to the right, on the assumption that it led behind Kreemon. Soon, they saw what they were looking for. In a rectangular spot of light, about fifteen feet ahead and five up, crouched the silhouette of a man taking aim with a crossbow, pointed nearly straight down. The two women regarded the situation for a moment, perplexed as to what to do. Recent events had made it muddled as to whether Kreemon was indeed their friend, yet each of them was loath to let some stranger shoot him and his dog from a cowardly hidden place. However, it seemed they had nothing to prevent the man from firing if they accosted him in any way. Then suddenly a smile came over Ardith's face. She signaled for Kay to be ready to fire, but not to do so. Kay wedged her left foot in the cross between two boards, and put her knee on another board to aim as best as possible in these cramped quarters. Then Ardith used her ability to create water; she created as much of it as she was able, and manifested it about four feet above the crossbowman's head. As the deluge poured about the shooter's head and shoulders, Ardith and Kay moved up to his position, then pushed him down through the hole he had been aiming into. Certainly, the sudden rush of water, followed by a soldier would be noticed in the chamber below. "Ardith!" Kay asked in the middle of all this, "what more tricks can you conjure?" "Most are healing, a few life-giving -- never mind; let's get to it!" Kreemon heard strange sounds coming from above his head. When he looked up, he felt a splash of water on his face, temporarily getting in the way of his vision. Then a loose crossbow bolt nearly hit him in the eye, followed by the crossbow, then the crossbowman. Kreemon was barely able to sidestep the last, and the Second Clerk managed to scramble away in the confusion. All had come out of a hole in the wall near the ceiling. Bork went into a barking fit, unable to decide what required his attention most, but despite the noise, Kreemon could hear the voices of two woman above. They were Ardith and Kay. The next moments were chaos. While the crossbowman tried to get up amidst human feet and animal feet and soaked papers, the Second Clerk called, "Get him! Get him!" incessantly, and the soldiers struggled past each other to reach Kreemon. Kreemon tried to grab the Clerk, but it was too late. Now the only thing left was to escape without having seen the Baron.... The hole. It was ten feet off the ground, so he could just reach it from the desk. He took advantage of the confusion and leapt up on the desk. Taking one step to gain momentum, he jumped up and grabbed at the edges of the hole. Using the traction of the stone wall, he scrambled up as high as he could so no one could grab his feet. Kreemon took one breath and yelled "Go!" at Bork, hoping the wolfhound would run from the guards and their swords. Then, with help from Kay, he climbed fully into the hole. One soldier got close enough to swipe at him with a sword as he rose, but the angle was poor and the attack clumsy, so he hit nothing but the stone wall. The soldier then jumped onto the desk himself. "Thanks," Kreemon said. "I didn't think to look up. Any idea of what to do now? I think I may have gotten us into a little trouble." "There's another one in there!" the knight called from behind. "Follow them. And post guards at every known entrance, find out who knows about the others, and post there too! They will not escape." "We better move. Lead the way," Kreemon said, and prepared to follow as quickly and carefully as possible. Kay answered. "The only exit we know of is in the hallway outside of that room, and they're probably there by now. But this scaffolding looks like it fills spaces behind every wall in the castle. There might be better places to escape. Ardith, can you make light again?" "Yes, Kay, but if they're coming in after us, it will be a beacon." Kreemon squinted his eyes at the darkness, and after a moment, noticed numerous points of light, possibly indicating secret passages or cracks in the masonry. "No, no light for now. It will attract more attention than it is worth. Let's move." Kreemon led in the group the opposite direction Kay indicated, heading to one of the points of light. He checked each of the rickety boards before placing hands or feet on it. It would not do to fall. His general direction was towards the run-down sections of wall he had seen from the outside, where trees might grow close enough to climb. Soon, bright lights appeared, one after another, in all directions. Behind the group, a soldier climbed into the hole where Kreemon had entered. Another light appeared in the secret passage that Ardith and Kay had discovered. Some lights shone from above, and others from below. The lanterns drowned out the meager light that leaked in from the castle hallways and filled the scaffolding with shadows, but Kreemon noticed that not all the possibilities were accounted for. Unless what he had seen had been mere cracks in the wall, there were entrances as yet unseen by the guards. Their progress was slow, but they managed to avoid detection for a while, since they were so much quieter than the soldiers climbing around them. The scaffolding wrapped around walls, but at many points, came to a dead end where two walls met up, and the group had to backtrack, staying far away from the lights. Before long, Kreemon was not sure at all in which direction he was facing, or how far he was from the castle walls, though he could tell that he was about two stories above ground. He was also covered in cobwebs, and could feel tiny legs crawling down his neck and along his arms, and into his clothing. Suddenly, Kay let out a squeak. A board split beneath her with a loud crack, and she fell. "It came from over there!" one of the soldiers yelled, his voice muted by thousands of rotting boards. Kay landed on the scaffolding ten feet below. It creaked with the strain, threatening to drop her yet another story, but held. Soldiers from all directions climbed towards the sound. Kreemon spoke quickly and quietly. "Let's climb down the scaffolding. We need to get lower, stay away from the hole." He carefully lowered himself down to Kay's level, and then moved a little to the side to keep from being seen. Ardith climbed down after him and checked on Kay's wounds, while Kreemon got his bearings. There had been more pinpricks of light above them than below, and several had seemed close to ground level -- more possible exits. It made sense that the exits would be at ground level, so they needed to go down. "Quiet!" he heard a guard yell, from almost on top of them. "I can't hear anything." The noise level in the area dropped considerably. Hopefully, the shadows cast by lanterns and torches would make them harder to see, especially if they put some distance between themselves and the hole. With that thought, Kreemon touched Ardith's shoulder and motioned her to follow him. Kay was scratched and bleeding, but no bones seemed to be broken. Ardith helped Kay to her knees, and together, they crawled behind Kreemon. "I hear something," the guard said. After that, he was quiet, but soon a lantern could be seen coming down the hole, accompanied by the shadows of three men. Kreemon led the others down, toward ground level, and before long, travel was made much easier by the presence of packed dirt. They still had to weave between the boards, but at least they could stand. There was also the danger of rats, not as enemies, but as creatures that could betray their presence with a sound. The guards pursued them along the ground, though at some point they caught a false lead and headed off in the wrong direction. Still, Kreemon could see at least half a dozen lanterns from where he was. After a few more tense seconds of cautious walking, Kreemon's foot made a loud 'clunk' on the ground. That was certainly not packed dirt. Kreemon moved his foot and brushed away the dirt to see what he had stepped on. He felt a pattern of flat segments and long, narrow holes, which he recognized pretty quickly as forming a wooden grate. Quickly circling, he measured its dimensions as roughly four feet square. It was covered in a thick layer of dust, dirt and rat droppings, and what felt like the decayed skeleton of a small bird lay near one corner. Two of the lanterns were moving in this direction, one from above, and one from ground level. Kreemon looked for a locking mechanism on the grate. Finding none, he gripped the grate and pulled. Kay gave him a hand, despite her limp, and they managed to shift it about half an inch. It had not been moved for a long time, and was quite heavy. They lowered it carefully back down, but it still made some noise when it slipped into place. The lanterns came closer. Kay took out her spear and wedged it into one of the slats. Using the spear as a lever, she lifted it enough for Kreemon to get his fingers under it, and then together, they managed to slide the grate aside. Although Kreemon had intended to disturb the dirt and dust on the grate as little as possible, evidence of their actions would probably be visible to anyone who inspected it with a lantern. Kreemon lay down on the ground, stuck his head in the opening, and felt around. He found a ladder, which was damp and rotted. Although vision was useless in such extreme darkness, he could hear the scurrying and occasional splashing of small animals. Based on the amount of noise they made, it could not have been more than a ten or fifteen foot drop. This could have been an entrance to a cistern that led out from the castle. More than likely, it was filled with rats and other small vermin, but it was definitely a way to freedom. Kreemon tapped Kay's shoulder, motioning for her to head down first. He put his lips to her ear and whispered, "The ladder is rotten. Slide down -- don't climb. We'll deal with slivers later." To Ardith, he added, "Use your fire against the scaffolding. It will distract the guards and cover our escape." Ardith did not reply, but she also didn't burn the scaffolding. The consequences of a serious conflagration in the close confines of the hidden chambers of the keep, with the possibility of firing the whole place, were just too dire for her to consider lightly. She would use that trick only in the most extreme circumstances. She did, however, prepare herself to use her other magic, should it become necessary. Kay slid down slowly, getting numerous splinters, but catching herself before a six-inch long fragment of wood could do more than draw blood. Kreemon gave Ardith the same instructions as he'd given Kay, and Ardith followed. The fragment which had missed Kay dug deep into Ardith's hand and snapped off loudly, though that didn't create nearly so much noise as the splash she made when landing on her back in the two-inch deep water. Kreemon followed last, holding himself to the ladder with his feet against its sides and pulling the spear down into the hole with him, to settle the grate back in place. Kreemon then slid down the rotted ladder to the water below, landing lightly on his feet in the water. He could pull out the splinters later. Once the grate was closed, the sounds above became almost inaudible, and were replaced by the scurrying, squeaking and rhythmic dripping that filled this underground passage. The grate soon became visible as a faint pattern of light and shadow, which grew more defined as the guards came closer. It was time to leave. *********************************************************************** It is night on this eighteenth day of Farinon, ninth moon of Halkak, two hundred and forty-second day of the one thousand first year of the Zioth, in the City of Huerten, in the Barony of Huerten, the Kingdom of Rang. /--Next New/Full Moons--\ Upcoming Events | New Full | ----------------------- | Halkak: 10/1 10/14 | 10/16 First day of winter | Tirop: 9/20 9/28 | | Ot: 9/28 10/17 | Market days occur on every 2nd and 6th day | Ilsapeich: 10/8 11/6 | of the week. The next one is on the 20th. | Zabrigar: 12/8 10/4 | \-----------------------/ Notes ----- I played Ardith and Kay for a lot of this turn, so naturally, role- playing awards will be lower. Otherwise, 'twas a fun turn! This was the most exciting turn in a while. In other news, you all know that turn 57 has been going on for a while now, so it should be available on the web site soon. I'm definitely enjoying the faster pace of the game, and I hope everyone else is too. Levels and Experience Totals ---------------------------- Ardith: 4 8050/10000 Kay: 3 4900/6500 Kreemon: 2 5075/4500 *********************************************************************** * Game Name Real Name | Game Name Real Name * *********************************************************************** * DM Eli Fenton | Kreemon Chris Dunn * * Ardith Karl Schinke | Sahlman Mohammed Qureshi * * Johannes Nathan Weismuller | Ziedon Alex Corbin * * Kay Karl Schinke | * *********************************************************************** * Email addresses are character_name (lowercase) at zioth.com * * Zioth web page: http://www.zioth.com/zioth * ***********************************************************************